My two year Journey with Apple Computers.

Well, this month (July) will officially be my first two years using Apple computers (so officially past the newbie stage to me/many more experienced Mac users will still say I'm wet behind the ears). My take on the Mac experience is as follows:

OS X: I like the simplicity of functionality and the fact that it is a bit more stable then Windows (However, Windows 7 has given me a renewed faith in Windows). However, growing up first using Windows computers I miss the fact that I can't hold the delete button down and delete more then one word at a time on a Mac (I have to keep clicking the delete button). Yes, I know I can highlight the words then hit delete.

Quality: The build quality is some of the best I have seen. The whole idea of an aluminum body is something that makes the product more durable and more pleasing to look at (Windows based PCs are finally getting the hint and you are seeing more PCs made out of aluminum). However, I don't feel that the price should be as high on Apple products as it currently is. Yes, I have heard/read the argument of quality and the great software you get, that if you got the same with a Windows machines you would have to pay more. However, I still feel the price on all units could be at least $200.00 cheaper. I also will say that my 27" iMac computer I bought was disappointing in terms of having dead pixel issues two months after I purchased it. I never had this issue with any Windows based PC I have owned.

During this two years I have owned:

2009 iMac 24"
late 2009 iMac 27"
2010 15" MBP
2010 MacBook
2010 13" MBP
2011 15" MBP (what I currently have)

Overall, I have been happy (minus the dead pixel issue with the 27" iMac/that still rubs me the wrong way/especially when considering how much I spent on that computer). I like the new model MBP I purchased with the Thunderbolt port, but spending over $2000.00 for a laptop sometimes causes me to ask myself; "What were you thinking"?!?!

I will say that if a friend came to me and asked me my opinion on whether he or she should buy a Apple computer, I would reply; "If you have allot of money to blow, then get a Mac. You will be pleased". "If not get a Sony Vaio that will get the job done just as good using Windows 7, at a fraction of the cost" (from a cost effective/ practical use). Waiting to see what Lion will do to enhance the Mac experience even more. Because to be quite honest, I think Windows 7, in some areas, is better then Snow Leopard.

Take Care and May God bless!

Ed

Serious question not an attempt to flame bait: What aspects of Win 7 do you like better than Snow Leopard? I am debating whether to shift my Bootcamp partition to Win 7 or wait a bit and see what Win 8 brings.

What did you end up doing about the pixels on the iMac?

chas_m said:

What did you end up doing about the pixels on the iMac?

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I sold the iMac since Apple would not repair the two dead pixels. It worked great besides that.

Just out of curiosity, were they actually dead (permanently black) or just stuck (any other colour)?

Slydude said:

Serious question not an attempt to flame bait: What aspects of Win 7 do you like better than Snow Leopard? I am debating whether to shift my Bootcamp partition to Win 7 or wait a bit and see what Win 8 brings.

Click to expand...

Nothing too technical in nature. I found that the college I take online classes with supports Windows Explorer in all aspects of its applications. Safari was not supported. I also like Windows Media player better than iTunes. I hate the fact that everything has to be connected thru iTunes to update my iPad, iPhone4, and iPods. Needless to say I sold the iPad also and got a Motorola Xoom. I don't have to connect to another device to update. I will have to see how iCloud fixes this issue. So far Android in this aspect smokes iOS based devices (just my opinion).

May God bless

Ed

(sent from my Motorola Xoom)

chas_m said:

Just out of curiosity, were they actually dead (permanently black) or just stuck (any other colour)?

Click to expand...

They were dark gray almost black in color.

However, growing up first using Windows computers I miss the fact that I can't hold the delete button down and delete more then one word at a time on a Mac (I have to keep clicking the delete button). Yes, I know I can highlight the words then hit delete.

Click to expand...

Option + Delete does this. You can even hold both keys to delete a bunch of words really quickly.

Overall, I have been happy...

Click to expand...

I would have guessed, seeing as you've purchased six Macs in the past two years!

I also like Windows Media player better than iTunes. I hate the fact that everything has to be connected thru iTunes to update my iPad, iPhone4, and iPods. Needless to say I sold the iPad also and got a Motorola Xoom. I don't have to connect to another device to update. I will have to see how iCloud fixes this issue. So far Android in this aspect smokes iOS based devices (just my opinion).

Click to expand...

If iCloud and iOS 5 end up being as awesome as Apple is promising, would it be enough to tempt you back into the iPad fold?

J.Fo said:

Option + Delete does this. You can even hold both keys to delete a bunch of words really quickly.



I would have guessed, seeing as you've purchased six Macs in the past two years!



If iCloud and iOS 5 end up being as awesome as Apple is promising, would it be enough to tempt you back into the iPad fold?

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As a matter of fact it would. But with the rumored iPad 3 on the horizon for this year, I will wait. Android Honeycomb is pretty darn good besides the fact I can customize my desktop on my Xoom. Still can't do that on a iPad (at least not yet anyway).

Ed

Sony Vaio's are not trouble free by a long shot. My only laptop is a Vaio and it came straight from Sony with dead pixels too. Sony did not do anything about the dead pixels either.

class77 said:

Sony Vaio's are not trouble free by a long shot. My only laptop is a Vaio and it came straight from Sony with dead pixels too. Sony did not do anything about the dead pixels either.

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Sorry to hear about the dead pixel issues with your Sony Vaio. I guess to these companies a few dead pixels is acceptable collateral damage (to me it is hard earned money I spent, that even during the warranty period they won't fix). To me there is something very wrong with this picture. I pay for a defective free product. I had a Sony Vaio Desk top that I bought in 2004 and a little less then two years, the hard drive died. That was convenient for Sony (out of warranty period) not good for me. However, if I pay more for a product, I tend to expect a little more from same (maybe I'm wrong for doing that). I paid a little bit more for the iMac then I did for the Sony Vaio (about $600.00 more). So what is the answer to this issue? If enough Apple customers complain would they change there policy for the customer?

Take Care and May God Bless!

Ed

ronin67 said:

I miss the fact that I can't hold the delete button down and delete more then one word at a time on a Mac (I have to keep clicking the delete button). Yes, I know I can highlight the words then hit delete.

Click to expand...

I don't get this as it doesn't seem to be an issue for me in Finder, MS Word or in Text Edit. What Apps can you simply not hold the delete key down and it keeps going?

ronin67 said:

However, I don't feel that the price should be as high on Apple products as it currently is. Yes, I have heard/read the argument of quality and the great software you get, that if you got the same with a Windows machines you would have to pay more. However, I still feel the price on all units could be at least $200.00 cheaper.

Click to expand...

ronin67 said:

I like the new model MBP I purchased with the Thunderbolt port, but spending over $2000.00 for a laptop sometimes causes me to ask myself; "What were you thinking"?!?!

Click to expand...

Not always a true statement, see below...

ronin67 said:

During this two years I have owned:

2009 iMac 24"
late 2009 iMac 27"
2010 15" MBP
2010 MacBook
2010 13" MBP
2011 15" MBP (what I currently have)

Click to expand...

In two years you have owned almost as many Macs as I have in 15!

ronin67 said:

I will say that if a friend came to me and asked me my opinion on whether he or she should buy a Apple computer, I would reply; "If you have allot of money to blow, then get a Mac. You will be pleased". "If not get a Sony Vaio that will get the job done just as good using Windows 7, at a fraction of the cost" (from a cost effective/ practical use).

Click to expand...

Really? I can price out a 13 inch Sony Vaio and a 13 inch Macbook Pro with the same CPU/speed/RAM/HDD for about the same price (the sony is $1599, the MBP is $1499). Neither has all the bells and whistles and we can go round and round all day on this issue but the fact remains that most of the machines bought from Apple, especially laptops, are comparable to their quality (I stress that because a lot of PCs are junk) Windows counterparts. Those comparisons were made directly from the Sony Site and the Apple site. Yes, you can find Sony Vaios cheaper and Apple doesn't really do that, but the price directly from the manufacturers is pretty darn close.

Baggss,

What is up man? I haven't received a PM from you in some time laughing at God.

Yes, if I go and price out a comparison on the websites between Sony and Apple they would be the same (or a little higher or lower). However, I didn't ask for a break-down comparison through the official online source. If I walk into a Best Buy, I can buy a Sony Vaio Laptop for under a $1000.00. Sorry, I should have specified more. Also, not all PCs are crap. You know as well as I do, you get what you pay for in the PC world. Hard drive size, in laptops is something you normal can get bigger from a off the shelf PC as compared to a a 13" MacBook Pro. I purchased a Sony Vaio 13" with a 750 GB hard drive for $869.00 (Still cheaper then a 13" MBP). So in some aspects, better deals/better hardware can be had on a PC under $1000.00. So why doesn't "Apple really do that"? No, I just buy a $1900 + iMac that gets dead pixels after two months. So to infer that the higher price= higher quality is just plain BS.

Glad to see your perfection lingers on baggss. Speaking from someone with experience with Apple Computers now, I like Apple computers, however I'm not the blind cool-aid drinker at the punch bowl with Steve Jobs. Windows 7 is a very good OS and compares equally in every aspect of the current version of Mac OS X. Now let's wait and see if Lion will totally rip apart Windows 7 specs and performance wise. I don't like limiting my choices. I still like Windows, but I like Mac OS X also. I'm also a big Linux fan (Ubuntu 10.10 installed on my 15 MBP).

Take care baggss and stop drinking that cool-aid. It has a hypnotic affect after awhile.


P.S. Looking into getting a new iMac here within the next two months also. Will that put me at the same amount of Apple computers you have had in the last 15 years?